Puzzle Donkey has the ability for puzzlers to chat about a puzzle they're currently on. I think it might be useful here too.

I think that's a good idea. Being an individual puzzler, I don't have the opportunity "discuss" the thoughts I have. Forum and PM helps, but it is not very "interactive". You post a way of thinking and someone replies, that's good, or way off track, gives you another hint, and it's back to the search for new ideas.

When you can discuss your thoughts with others though, it would be easier to change a way of thinking or expanding an idea.

Plus, it makes it easier for me to find out if a word exists or not

For anybody that's interested, I have created a basic web chat client on my personal webspace. PM me if you want the URL._________________Lead on adventurer, your quest awaits.

Unless I'm missing something, You'll Kick Yourself generally means that you have inadvertantly mentioned the correct answer or method in your post without realising. It just means that you're painfully close to the solution.

What I think would be nice, is being able to click on a username in the stats screen, and having a list of contests they have entered displayed. This would also show whether they have finished the contest or not, and their current position if they haven't.

Helpful for deciding who to PM for advice._________________Lead on adventurer, your quest awaits.

What I think would be nice, is being able to click on a username in the stats screen, and having a list of contests they have entered displayed. This would also show whether they have finished the contest or not, and their current position if they haven't.

Helpful for deciding who to PM for advice.

But you would have to have a complete list of usernames on the stats screen for that contest.

If you are on the stats screen you can see from the righthand column who has done any question and choose from there who to pm.

My main objection to that suggestion is that some people may not want to be PM'd about a particular contest (or, indeed, not at all). I guess a followup possibility would be to provide a list of people at or further along than a particular puzzle. However, only show those people who have explicitly flagged that they don't mind being PM'd._________________Puzzletome - Confusion now hath made his masterpiece!

This is a suggestion based on my recollections of visiting the site for the first time.

Things may well have changed since then (I was tempted to re-register to see!) so some/all of this may not be necessary.

Firstly, I was confronted with the "Content" page, and couldn't access the contests (I hadn't registered them). So, for new members, is it possible to have the default for all contests as Registered.

Secondly, whilst the Content Page is a brilliant and powerful tool, it contains too much information/utility. Why not rename this something like "Controls" and move it to below "Progress" on the menu.

The original "Content" option could remain, but as a much simpler screen. I also thought about iconising (did I just invent a new word?) the options to make it "warmer"... a mock-up appears below (it's easier than explaining it) - you will need to imagine the icons.

Also, perhaps mouseovers could give a little more info such as type of questions, author etc.

Firstly, I was confronted with the "Content" page, and couldn't access the contests (I hadn't registered them). So, for new members, is it possible to have the default for all contests as Registered.

One problem I can think of with this is that effectively everyone is registered for all contests. This makes it impossible for us to determine (a) how popular a contest is, and (b) how many people out of the 2400+ membership are regularly visiting. However, you are absolutely right about the confusion of the front page. We need to make it much more obvious what to do when you first arrive.

SparkPlug wrote:

Secondly, whilst the Content Page is a brilliant and powerful tool, it contains too much information/utility. Why not rename this something like "Controls" and move it to below "Progress" on the menu.

That's certainly a possibility, although I can see how it would be better with your previous idea of automatic registration. A new user could be confronted with an empty screen if that isn't the case. It may be that your idea of mouseovers could be used here to replace the text at the top.

SparkPlug wrote:

The original "Content" option could remain, but as a much simpler screen. I also thought about iconising (did I just invent a new word?) the options to make it "warmer"... a mock-up appears below (it's easier than explaining it) - you will need to imagine the icons.

Also, perhaps mouseovers could give a little more info such as type of questions, author etc.

Yes, there's certainly more we could do here. The icons may need to be smaller to avoid it getting too unwieldy. Grouping contests into more subgroups is certainly something we'd like to implement. I like the idea of doing it by number of puzzles. But the best idea (IMO) here is the mouseovers one. That could serve a dual purpose of hiding alot of information from the basic display and removing the need for 'subpages'.

Stretham_________________Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy?
I don't know and I don't care!

What Stretham is keeping under his hat (do coyotes wear hats?) is that we have plans for the content page that should make it more flexible. Nothing is finalised yet, so we will take all suggestions into account when deciding on the final format.

I understand that the whole contest registration thing is unwieldy, so that will be one of the things that will go. Registration - which, as Stretham has said, is pretty useful statistics-wise - will happen the first time you visit a particular contest. It should (hopefully) be transparent to the user._________________Puzzletome - Confusion now hath made his masterpiece!

One problem I can think of with this is that effectively everyone is registered for all contests. This makes it impossible for us...

That's an extremely valid point.

How about if the simplified "content" page showed all the contests - regardless of whether or not you had registered for them - but clicking on one which you are not yet registered for takes you to a "do you want to register for this contest" type screen.

I think the proposed changes discussed here would pretty much settle this, but what I remember being confused by the most was the difference between "content" and "puzzles"...I still sometimes click the wrong one if I've been away for a while. Whatever form the "content" page ultimately takes, renaming it might make things a little more obvious to new users (perhaps "controls" as suggested or something similar).

I think the proposed changes discussed here would pretty much settle this, but what I remember being confused by the most was the difference between "content" and "puzzles"...I still sometimes click the wrong one if I've been away for a while. Whatever form the "content" page ultimately takes, renaming it might make things a little more obvious to new users (perhaps "controls" as suggested or something similar).

Or to rename the 'puzzles' link something like 'current puzzle' or 'last puzzle visited'. Okay, clumsy I know, but I'm sure someone else will find a single word that would suffice...Anyone?_________________Banging one's head against the wall seldom results in the answer falling out.